Bordeaux 2006 – not a small vintage!

I’ve noticed one or two merchants mentioning the quantity of Bordeaux 2006 made, saying it was less than in 2005 and much less than in 2004. Well, it is true that total production of AC wine in the Bordeaux region was 1.8% less in 2006 than in 2005, but as these fascinating official Bordeaux records of average production by appellation 1996–2006 show, in the important left and right bank appellations average production was respectively 3.5% (Médoc and Graves) and 2.7% (right bank) higher in 2006 than in 2005.

 

These further official Bordeaux figures for the total area dedicated to AC wine production and average yields 2002–2006 show that the reduction in total amount of AC wine produced is exactly matched by a decline in the area of vineyard devoted to AC production and that average yields in 2006 are in fact marginally higher than in 2005. So the Bordelais certainly can’t play the ‘Honey, I shrunk the vintage’ trick on pricing their new vintage.

I thought you might also be interested in this graphic representation of price increases and decreases on the previous year based on the wines of the J P Moueix stable (excluding Petrus which is offered independently of  this Libourne negociant's other wines).

The first block shows how much more 2000 prices were than the 1999 ones; the last shows much less the 2006 prices are than the 2005 prices - blocks above the horizontal line representing increases on the previous year while blocks below represent decreases. The cumulative increase in the average price of 2006 over 1999 works out at 27.3%.